A New Beginning
by HarryLuvsGinny
Summary: A New Beginning to Harry Potter
1. Chapter 1

A New Beginning

Chapter 1 – A New Beginning

The day dawned dimly over Privet Drive as a ten year old girl, named Hermione Granger slept. She had very bushy brown hair, chocolate colored eyes, and a best friend who was the light of her life. Her best friend was a scraggly looking boy, who just happened to live right next door, a boy known to the whole of the wizarding world as "the boy who lived.

But, of course, neither Hermione, nor the boy, Harry Potter knew of the fantastical world of magic, and witches and wizards.

"Hermione, dear, it's time for you to wake up," her mother called to her. "You've got some mail.

Hermione rolled on to her side and stretched. She wasn't sure who in the world would be writing to her. She had never received a letter before, so she figured it was a joke.

"Coming mum," Hermione yelled, as she started to get dressed.

Harry Potter had been up since the crack of dawn, trying to figure out how to steal one of the letters, which had been arriving for him for the past fortnight.

Little did he realize that the girl next door, his secret crush, Hermione had also received a letter from the same place.

Harry had set the alarm clock for early in the morning, in order to receive the letter, but as he crept downstairs, he noticed a dark spot close to the door. As he moved towards it, it moved slightly.

Harry froze as the dark spot moved, and then settled back into place. Harry's heart had started pounding as he crept closer to the door, and set one foot in front of the other.

Hermione quickly went downstairs, and was surprised when she saw both of her parents were still home, since they generally went into work early, so whenever they were home was a big surprise to her.

"Good morning dear," her father called to her. "Your letter is over here.

Hermione looked over to the table, and sure enough there was a letter for her, with the writing on the envelope shining in emerald green ink.

Hermione's hands shook as she opened the envelope, since she didn't know who could be writing to her, and for what reason they wanted to write to her. It simply did not make any sense for her to be getting any mail.

As she took the letter out of the envelope and opened it, the envelope blew off, almost like magic. Hermione chucked at her whimsy, as magic didn't exsist outside of fairy tales.

She looked at the letter, and her jaw dropped almost to the floor at what she was reading.

_Dear Miss Granger,_

_  
We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_Term begins on 1 September. We await your response no later than 31 July._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall,_

_Deputy Headmistress_

Harry crept closer to the door, and all of a sudden, he stepped into something squishy. There was a very loud scream, and a light flicked on overhead.

The squishy thing turned out to be his Uncle Vernon's face.

Harry had endured several minutes of his uncle's angry rants about what made him such an ungrateful brat, and then he was told to go and make some tea.

Harry's stride slowed considerably. He had again failed to get one of the mysterious letters, and he had not been able to get past his only family.

Hermione dropped the letter as she heard the shouting again, coming from next door. To her and her family, it appeared as if shouting Vernon Dursley was good at. Yelling at his nephew seemed to be the only thing in his life that gave him any joy.

Any time Hermione was within earshot of the yelling, she would start crying, since she cared about Harry so much.

It always hurt her parents so much to see her shedding tears for the boy next door, since they did not approve of him as a friend for their baby girl, however polite he was with them, and never doing anything with Hermione, without their permission. They believed he was such a troublemaker, since he was always being yelled at for one reason, or another, especially since they had heard that he had set a boa constrictor on his cousin, and his friend. When they repeated the story to Hermione, she had giggled so much and just said, "There's no way Harry could do that.

Hermione was startled when Harry told her that the Dursleys were running away from something. He wouldn't tell her what they were running from, since he personally believed it was ridiculous to run away from someone trying to send you a letter, but he couldn't tell her that as Uncle Vernon smashed the door open to get him to hurry up.

Vernon Dursley drove, and drove, and drove some more, stopping every so often, trying to find something. What that something was no one, except Vernon knew.

When asked, he would answer anyone, since he hated questions. That's the first thing that his aunt and uncle had told him. "Don't ask questions," they had warned him, but like all children, he was inquisitive.

Whenever he dared ask a question, they would either snap "Don't ask questions," at him, or just ignore him, and force him back into the cupboard under the stairs.

Eventually Vernon Dursley found a perfect spot. He had finally found the thing he had been looking for.

He ordered everyone out of the car, and then pointed to a rock out in the ocean, as if to say "That's where we're going," and then he really did say it.

There was a small boat perched near them, and he entered it first, and then motioned for Harry to row them all out to the rock.

It was very grueling work, but eventually they got to their destination.

Hermione's parents left for work, and Hermione was left to herself. She read and reread the letter, trying to figure out if this was a practical joke, or was it indeed real?

As she read the letter for a fourth time, she noticed a second piece of paper she was sure hadn't been there before.

She looked through the list of supplies, and was startled to see a wand listed. Maybe this was real, after all.

Harry lay awake late that night, not able to get to sleep, not even though his birthday was the next day.

At midnight, a loud bang shook the door of the hut on the rocky island, and Vernon came into the room, followed by Petunia, just in time to see the door smashed in, and a giant of a man enter the hut.

He gave Harry a letter, the same one that he had been trying to get at Privet Drive, and Harry felt his heart race.

He was finally leaving the Dursley's. Then his heart fell. He realized he wouldn't see Hermione for a year.

Hermione's face fell as she reread the letter. She and Harry both were supposed to go to Stonewall together, but now it appeared as if Harry would be going alone.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – Telling Each Other

It was now the thirtieth of August, and neither Harry, nor Hermione had plucked up the courage to tell each other they would be going away for school.

Hermione had read, and re-read her school textbooks, and had squeaked and dropped the book that was in her hands the first time she had seen Harry's name on the page.

"_Could this really possibly be him?" _she thought to herself, as she pondered everything he had ever shared with her. He had told her that his aunt and uncle had told him that his parents had died in a car crash, but now she wasn't so sure about that.

Seeing his name in several of their school books made her feel kind of funny.

"_What else could he be possibly hiding from me?"_ she asked herself many, many times.

Harry Potter knocked on Hermione's bedroom door, ready to tell her.

"May I please come in, Hermione," Harry asked, as she opened the door, and motioned for him to enter.

"I've got something I need to tell you," he said quietly, looking at his feet. "I know we were both looking forward to being in high school together, but as it turns out, I have been accepted unto another school, so it looks like I won't be able to see you for an entire year," he said, before he was stopped.

"I've also been accepted into another school, instead of Stonewall," Hermione told Harry, "but, I have no idea where it is, but from what I've read, it should be a good place to study.

"Is that all you ever do, Hermione?" Harry teased. "Everyone keeps asking me the same question. When am I going to ask out my book worm friend, and I keep telling them that we are too young for that right now, but when I do ask her, I want it to be the perfect time for it.

Hermione blushed, and started crying after hearing Harry say that. She was not sure if Harry could or ever would return the feelings she held in her heart only for him. Now she knew for sure, that he did have feelings for her.

"I'll miss you Harry," she sobbed, as he pulled her into a hug.

"We will be able to write to each other, you know. It's not like we will be out of touch forever, and then, at the end of the school year, we will both be back here on Privet Drive, me with my relatives, and you here, and we will be see each other again, and be able to tell each other about our new schools.

"I suppose that's true," Hermione admitted. "Can you stay for a while though? I have something to show you.

"I have to pack to be ready to go early tomorrow, so it's got to be quick.

Several hours later, Harry Potter had finished packing. The stuff Hermione had shown him had made him feel happy. One of the few times he had ever felt happy, in fact. He had been given half of a heart shaped locket by Hermione, and had been told several times to keep the locket safe, because as long as either of the two of them held it close to themselves, they would always have each other, and when it was connected together again, they would never be apart.

Harry was not sure about what she had meant from anything she had said, but she had looked so happy when he had accepted his half of the locket.

"_It's always touchy feely stuff with girls, isn't it?'_ he asked himself, not expecting an answer back, but receiving an answer from uncle Vernon nonetheless.

"What are you going on about with all this rubbish?" Vernon bellowed. "Who would ever want to be with a good for nothing like you?

Harry ignored his uncle, as he knew his uncle Vernon would like nothing better than to make him angry.

It was all for naught however, as his uncle grabbed him, and started to shake him, demanding that he be answered.

The shaking was long in stopping. Vernon Dursley seemed to be venting all of his rage out towards Harry, and he didn't even stop when he realized that he was being watched by the girl next door.

Hermione looked out the window of her bedroom, and felt her heart stop in her chest. She could not believe what Vernon Dursley was doing to his own nephew.

She thought of going over, and trying to stop him, but knew that he might only hurt her, and that would hurt Harry more.

She phoned the police, hoping they would be able to stop Vernon hurting Harry, and it took them only moments to arrive.

As they arrived on the doorstep of number four Privet Drive, the shaking stopped, and Harry stood still as they entered the house. He knew that his future depended on what happened next. As the police tromped up the stairs, he knew what he should do. He wouldn't do anything, he decided.

"Good evening," a burly, sandy haired officer said to Harry. "We received a report of a disturbance here. Is everything alright?

"Yes officer," Harry lied, safe in the knowledge that he would soon be away from the Durselys.

Hermione looked over again, and noticed that Harry was smiling impishly at her. It was his small way of saying, "_it's alright._"

She had never felt less heartened by that smile than she felt right then. They had always used that smile before as a signal between the two of them. They had used it to cover up stuff, but never any thing like what had just happened.

The day was finally here. They both said their goodbyes to each other. Hermione and her family left Privet Drive first, and then the Dursley's pulled out, heading towards King's Cross station, and then to who knows where.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – An Unexpected Meeting

At last the Dursley's all left King's Cross station, all three of them laughing like maniacs at Harry's predicament.

The platform written on his ticket was not there. How was he supposed to get onto the train to go to his new school if he couldn't find it?

He thought to himself for a moment, and finally decided he should listen to see if anyone else was talking about the platform. He listened for a moment, and finally he heard a family, all with vivid red hair, all going on about the platform. He wondered if he should follow them to get to the platform, since to him, he believed that would be the easiest way to get on to the platform.

The first one of the family to go rushed at the barrier, and then was blocked from Harry's point of view by passing travelers, and he was gone. Harry could not believe his eyes.

Two more of the red haired children also performed the same vanishing act, and then there was nothing Harry could do but ask for help.

A chubby, kind faced woman told him to run at the barrier. That was all that was needed to get through the barrier on to the platform.

Hermione had already dressed in her new school robes, and was playing with her half of the heart shaped locket, and wondering if she would ever see Harry again.

She knew she was worried, but she wasn't quite sure if she would ever see Harry again.

"Have you seen a toad anywhere," asked a chubby little boy, who had a kind face. "Trevor's gone off on another adventure," he said, smiling sadly.

"I'm sorry, but I haven't," Hermione answered, "but I'll help you look for it.

Harry sat in a compartment at the back of the Hogwarts Express, completely alone, like he had been for his whole life, except for Hermione, and she was now farther away than ever, miles away, probably in the heart of London by now.

Harry watched as people walked by the compartment in little groups. They all seemed to have their friends, but Harry, like always, would be alone at his new school. He didn't know how he would be able to handle being away from Hermione for nine months, but he knew he could write to her.

All of a sudden, the compartment door opened, and a red haired boy asked him if he could sit down in the compartment, since everywhere else was full.

It felt almost like having a real friend that Harry agreed at once, and the two of them started talking, and a friendship was formed.

The red haired boy, who had introduced himself as Ron Weasley asked Harry about the locket piece, and Harry answered that his best friend had given it to him on their last day together before school.

"I take it, she is special to you then?" Ron asked bluntly.

"She is very dear to me, and if she weren't, would I be agonizing about whether or not I'll ever see her again?" Harry asked.

Hermione and Neville had checked in almost every compartment of the train, however they were not able to find Trevor. There was only one compartment left to check, and they were sure it had to be the one in which Trevor lay hidden.

All of a sudden Hermione stopped dead in her tracks. She saw there were two boys in the last compartment. One appeared to have flaming red hair, of which Hermione secretly disapproved of, and the other had their head down, but there was no mistaking that the other had messy hair. _His hair's just like Harry's_, she thought to herself. She was sure that he couldn't be here, simply because the Dursley's would never allow Harry to go to a school which taught magic, but all the same, Hermione, determined as she was, was going to help Neville.

"Excuse me… have you seen a toad- ?" she started after she opened the door to their compartment, and then she just stared. Sitting across from where she was standing was Harry. She couldn't mistake him for anyone else. He was the one to whom she had given her heart so long ago.

"Can we help you," the red haired boy asked, not noticing what was going on.

"Ron, this is Hermione." Harry stated. "She is my life, my best friend, my heart and soul.

"Oh, so this is the girl you were talking about earlier," Ron said, oblivious to everything that was going on. Harry and Hermione had locked eyes, and for them, they knew it was fate. How else could it have happened they both get a letter to attend the same school?

They hugged, and Hermione gave Harry a quick kiss on the cheek, and Harry also did the same to Hermione.

They both knew that they were now truly inseparable, and held hands for the rest of the trip. The toad lay forgotten as Ron rambled on about Quidditch, but Harry and Hermione only had eyes for each other.

A while later, Hermione said to Ron, "Who are you?"

"I'm Ron Weasley, and why are you still here? Find that toad yet?

Hermione jumped as if she had just been scolded, and went off to help poor Neville, who was feeling lonely and unwanted in the corridor.

"That wasn't nice," Harry muttered, but Ron didn't notice, as he was now taking Harry through what the balls of Quidditch were, and what they were used for.

Hermione passed by the compartment a moment later, and upon seeing Harry, she smiled. She now knew he felt the same way about her as she did about him.

She asked him to join her in the corridor for a moment, and asked him to be her boyfriend.

Harry accepted at once, and that was all Hermione had needed. She fainted right into his arms.


End file.
